11 injured in gas blast in Chinese restaurant in Sofia

Eleven people were injured when a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) canister exploded Sunday in a Chinese restaurant located in the center of the capital city of Sofia.

According to the press release of the Bulgarian interior ministry, the blast occurred at around 7:20 pm local time in a Chinese restaurant on the second floor of a building in the city center. All the eleven injured were sent to 3 hospitals for treatment.

The powerful blast also smashed the windows of the nearby houses. A car was damaged by the explosion.

Stoyan Sopotenski, director of the Pirogov Hospital on duty, told Xinhua that one Bulgarian man with severe head injury was in serious condition.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev and Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova both went to the scene of the accident. Yovchev told reporters that all the LPG cylinders were taken out of the building and there was no danger to the residents nearby.

Yovchev said that gas leak from the cylinder may be the cause of the explosion.